Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, April 16, 1944. Black Sunday.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, April 16, 1944. Black Sunday.: 

Sunday, April 16, 1944. Black Sunday.

The RAF hit Romania for the first time. On the same day, the Soviet Air Forces hit Galatz. 

A large air raid was staged on Hollandia, Indonesia.  The mission was successful with no losses, but the aircraft ran into a severe weather front on the return and 46 of the 170 aircraft in the raid went down.  The day acquired the name "Black Sunday" as a result.

The attacking force was made up of  B-24s, B-25s and A-20s, escorted by P-38s

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, March 22, 1944. Vesuvius destroys the 340th Bombardment Group and the XP56.

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, March 22, 1944. German defeat in the B...: 

80% of the B-25s of the 340th Bombardment Group were destroyed by volcanic boulders from Vesuvius.

The only example of the Northrup XP-56, the first one having been destroyed in a crash, was photographed in anticipation of its first flight the following day.

Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet (s/n 42-38353) on the ground at Muroc Army Air Field, California, March 22, 1944.

The weird aircraft was not a success.

Last prior edition:

Tuesday, March 21, 1944. Dear John.

1940s, 1944, Aircraft, Churches, Continuation War, Kamikaze, Miles City Montana, New Guinea, Operation Margarethe, Operation U-Go, The relationship between men and women, The written word, World War Two

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, January 7, 1944. Adoption of the P59 announced.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, January 7, 1944. Lou Henry Hoover passes ...:

Friday, January 7, 1944. Lou Henry Hoover passes away.

"Interested natives look on as armorers place 50 cal. machine guns in the nose of a North American B-25G, Mullinnix Airfield, Tarawa, Gilbert Islands. 7 January 1944. (NARA)"

A British Mosquito is shot down with its Oboe navigational aid intact, allowing the Germans to develop countermeasures.

The United States Army Air Force announced the production of the Bell P-59 Airacomet.  The first US jet fighter aircraft, it would prove to be a disappointment and provided no real advantage over existing piston engined aircraft.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, April 4, 1943. Airborne tragedies.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, April 4, 1943. Airborne tragedies.: 

Sunday, April 4, 1943. Airborne tragedies.

Today in World War II History—April 4, 1943: Mrs. Thomas Sullivan christens destroyer USS The Sullivans in honor of her five sons killed in the sinking of light cruiser USS Juneau in November 1942.

So reports Sarah Sundin, who also notes that the US II Corps took Hill 369 near El Guettar and that POWs escaped from the Japanese penal colony on Davoa point.  Their escape would break the news of the Bataan Death March, particularly through POW William Dyess.

William Dyess.

Dyess was returned to flying status but would suffer a mechanically stricken aircraft over California, while taking off, that following December and chose to ride the plane down as it was over a populated area.  He died in the crash.

On the tragic aircraft loss theme, I guess, a B-25 went down over Lake Murray, South Carolina on this day, but the entire crew survived.  The nearly intact B-25 was raised in 2005 in excellent condition.

1Lt. W.J. Hatton, pilot; 2Lt. R.F. Toner, copilot; 2Lt. D.P. Hays, navigator; 2Lt. J.S. Woravka, bombardier; TSgt. H.J. Ripslinger, engineer; TSgt. R.E. LaMotte, radio operator; SSgt. G.E. Shelly, gunner; SSgt. V.L. Moore, gunner; and SSgt. S.E. Adams, gunner.  Crew of the Lady Be Good.

Not so fortunate was the crew of Lady Be Good, a B-24.  It disappeared on its return from a bombing raid on Italy, having taken off from an airbase in Libya, which is interesting to consider as North Africa was still subject to fighting on the ground.

The plane grossly overshot its base and was found in 1958 by a British Petroleum crew some 400 plus miles inland.  The bodies were recovered, save for one, two years later after a search.  The crew clearly bailed out once they realized, far too late, they were deeply lost and that the plane would go down. They appear to have survived the parachute descent but died in the desert. The one remaining crewman was likely found by a British patrol over the borderline with Libya in 1953, but was unaware of whom the crewman was, as the plane had been thought to have crashed over the Mediterranean.

A minor incident, it's recalled simply because of the mystery of what occurred to the crew.  Worth recalling as part of that, and contrary to how this is often portrayed in film, many American aircrews were extremely green early on in the war, as in fact this crew was.  This contributed to an extremely high accident rate.

German radio announced that Former Prime Ministers Édouard Daladier and Léon Blum, and former French Army commander in chief, General Maurice Gamelin, had turned over to the Germans by French authorities.  They would spend the rest of the war in Buchewald.

Pacific Aviation Museum: "Ruptured Duck"

Pacific Aviation Museum: B25 Ruptured Duck from the Doolitte Raid.